Lightspeed Champion, London Highbury Garage
Lightspeed Champion
August 28th 2009
The release of Falling off the Lavender Bridge seems almost an age ago as I stand in line for Lightspeed Champion’s first UK gig in almost a year. It comes a day before his dates at the Reading and Leeds festival, seemingly gargantuan venues in comparison to the intimacy of the sticky-floored Relentless Garage.
Yep. This one’s for the fans.
But before Dev Hynes can play out tunes old and new is something rather special- the support act, Kindness. Hailing from Hackney and Kreuzberg this bizarre group of five are possibly the greatest bad/good band ever.
Lacking a drummer, the lead singer coordinates a drum machine from a computer with the band. A computer that falls twice from a stand during one song, causing the rest of the band to improvise along to the tune. Lyrics appear to be read from a notebook. And for some songs, all the band members leave the stage except the singers, making the stage a glorified karaoke bar.
The set list consists of plenty of covers, but this is where a light shines from Kindness. To kick off the night is a mashed up version of Nirvana’s ‘Big Me’ and ‘All Apologies’ that, actually, is rather good. And not just that! They do a fair version of Dawn Penn’s ‘You Don’t Love Me’. But that’s enough of them, as the main act arrives in a Spiderman denim jacket to entertain the warmed-up crowd.
Starting with ‘Dry Lips’ and playing songs from the old album and the unnamed forthcoming one, Dev uses a fuller sound from the guitars available. Old favourites like ‘Everyone I Know Is Listening To Crunk’ and ‘Tell Me What Its Worth’ are echoed back by the crowd as he subtly acts out his lyrics. “Negroes turning blue-ish grey” is mimed by making his skin crawl, whilst pleas for comfort are expressed by a forlorn look.
Last summer was long and arduous for Dev, and following surgeries to his throat and some less-than-glowing press regarding festival performances, he seems to be back at full strength in the small venues. The new tracks, including ‘Madame Van Damme’ and ‘Sweetheart’ ring through the Garage with the same bitter lyrics from the last album, but also allow his musical ability to shine through, with solos littered during the performance.
The main set is concluded with the typical fan-favourite of ‘Midnight Surprise’. The 10-minute landmark from his first album is not without an essential intro though. Last year at one of his gigs, his precursor to the track was a full-band rendition of the ‘Imperial March’ from Star Wars. This time he paid a token of respect to his UK fans with a loud-and-proud ‘God Save The Queen’. As if this wasn’t enough to make the night complete, a final performance came in the form of a Lightspeed-Kindness cover of Weezer’s ‘Say It Ain’t So’.
A good gig is the least I could say about the night. But then again, this one was for the fans and I needn’t say more.
